Brooklyn School Among the City’s Most Coveted for Gifted Students

The Brooklyn School of Inquiry, a newly opened gifted and talented school in Bensonhurst, shot up to become the city’s second most coveted gifted program, according to New York City Department of Education.

Historically there were only three gifted programs, all in Manhattan, the Anderson School on the Upper West Side, New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math (called Nest+M) on the Lower East Side and TAG Young Scholar program in Harlem. In the 2009-2010 school year, two new schools entered the fray, the one in Brooklyn, and STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Enrichment, Math, in Astoria, Queens. Officials declined to say how popular the other schools were for incoming kindergarten students in September 2010, but said demand for the Brooklyn school was a surprise.

Brooklyn School of Inquiry has been open for less than a year, but 251 families listed the school as their top choice. Only 56 new kindergarten spots will be available for the school year starting in September, according to education officials.

Only children scoring at 97th percentile or above on a test administered by the city can attend the five so-called citywide gifted schools. But competition is so fierce that most likely only children scoring in the 99th percentile will be offered seats, unless they received sibling preference, according to officials.

“I’m disappointed,” said Irina Livshits, whose son did not get an offer to attend Brooklyn School of Inquiry. We “went from the height of scoring 99 and being excited to not getting our first choice. And it’s a big possibility that we won’t take any G&T spot,” she said.

The Brooklyn School of Inquiry, located in a new, airy building, currently has kindergarten and first-grade students only. It hasn’t yet gone through a typical Department of Education evaluation process, but officials said that the school is performing at a satisfactory level based on numerous site visits.